Little Falls transcript., 1887-06-17
"a Carpet Story.

.
Without entering upon any abstruse
specnlations as to the relative merits
Of reason and intuirion-that is to
say, as to the manners Of men and
the ways Of women-one practical il
lustration Of the methods pursued re-
spectively by the sons of Adam and
Ewes daughters will be sufficient to
prove to all unprejudi Heed readers that
not. only, as the immortal Sam Patch
observed, some things can be done as
we'll as Others, but that the same thing
can be done in different ways and the
result be as satisfactory it reached in
one way as by another. " "a
So much for preface; now for the IL
lustration.
Not long ago Fogg bought a new car
pet, and thinking to save che expense
oflaying it, be told Mrs. Fogg he would
do the work himself.
Fogg and the carpet arrived home
earlyln the afternoon. Fogg got out OF
his good clothes andinto the old suit
that had been feeding the moths
through the winter. He armed him.
self with tacks and hammer, with g.
yardstlck, two.foot rule, O. carpenters
square, ten-foot pole, and a tape
measure. First he unrolled the car
pet, spread it out to cover the floor,
walked over it two or three times,
pulled it here and twitched it there,
puckered his mouth, corrugated his
forehead, and was half dozen times
| on the point OF asking Mrs. Fogg's
advice, and would have done it, only
he knew it would please her too we'll.
"Of course" he suddenly exclaimed,
as one who recognizes the force OF q
new inspiration. Then he took his
measuring impediments, one after the
other, and then all together, and pro-
ceeded to get the exact dimensions OF
the room, with all it's angles, recesses,
projections and catti-corners. Next
he sat down and drew an elaborate
diagram OF the premises. -
"Now," said he, jumping up briskly,
81 can go to work IN business-like
way"
Taking his diagram he proceededto
the scene OF action. He measured
here and yard-stacked there and ten
poled in every direction. He labored
long and we'll; he ripped the carpet,
unraveled the edges, pounded his nails
quite as literally as the tacks, and ut
tered language quite shocking, and
when he got throug h-we have Mrs.
Fogg's VOID for it -"that carpet was
all askew" 1t was, as the same au-
thority expressed it, "a sight to be-
hold"
Fogg himself rema1 ked that he never
saw such a carpet in all his life. There
wasn't any shape to it. He was all
right; OF course it was all the carpets
fault in cases of this kind.
Mrs. F.. said nothing futher than
"Well, wouldn't bother about it any
more tonight. Daniel. You are all
tired out and had better go to bed"
Next morning Mrs. Fogg, without
stopping to change her apparel, went
to work to see what she could do.
She began at the beginning by undo.
ing all that her lord and master had
done. Then she took a string, meas-
ured the room, and down its length,
soliloquising meanwhile about $50
much and half finger" "three times
and two fingers" "once and little
bit over" with various other equally
unintelligible rem arks.
Then she got down on her knees,
and with hammer and tacks she had
that carpet down quicker than scat,
and as smooth as her own placid
brow, ard she got up from her work
with spirit unruffled and clothing IN.
soiled.
When Fogg came home and saw the
room all put to rights, with the car.
pet fitting as though it we're painted
on the floor, he felt proud of his wife;
yes, actually proud OF her. OF course
he didn't say anything further than
to remark that it was easy enough to
put down a carpet by daylight; any.
body could do that
But Mrs. Fogg doesn't care. She
knows that Fogg thinks she is worth
her weight in gold, but that he thinks
that women, like children, are not to
be praised for fear Of spelling them.
But when anybody tells you that g
woman is illogical and unmethodical
mention this little story about put
tinr down A. Garnet.